investigative article

Dormitory canteens: for hungry bellies, or greedy pockets?

by: Sheila Cavite Hurboda


It was a foggy evening. The body unaccustomed to the unpredictable shifts of the weather shivered as the pain of hunger struck her stomach and the coldness slashed her veins. Minutes later, the limp body collapsed.
Maria Fe, then a first year student in Mindanao State University (MSU)-Main was rushed to the University Infirmary in a mid-June night. Admittedly, she said she has peptic ulcer and its attack of pain was provoked by her skipping of meals. With teary eyes, this young girl shyly stated that she was not used to frequent walking and the trip from Princess Lawanen Hall (PLH) to 5th street was such an ordeal that she chooses not to eat dinner than thin her soles out.
She was just one of the hundreds of the dormitory residents in the campus that depend on the mini-restaurants and eateries alongside the 5th street and the Commercial Center (ComCen). It is not because there are no foods available in the dormitories that pushed Maria Fe to patronize the “street foods” outside the dormitory she was living in but because she found it cheaper to have her board or “share”, as it is traditionally called by the students, outside. With only a thousand-peso monthly allowance, she cannot afford to give up the P950 for a month’s “share” in the dormitory canteen leaving her a few pesos for her other needs. While outside, she can have a 3-meal board for atleast P850.
Prices of commodities in the dormitories are also noticeably higher than the ones sold in the ComCen. For instance, a pack of fish crackers worth 5 pesos at Tweetums’s Store in the ComCen is made 6-7 pesos in the dormitories. Other goods like shampoos, sanitary napkins, toothpaste, soap, instant noodles, ball pens and medicines are increased by 1 to 2 pesos. According to Mamita (an endearment), the cook/manager of the PLH-north wing canteen, sometimes they purchase their goods in the ComCen giving them no choice but to add a peso or two on the original prices of the goods for them to have some profit.
Amid the comparatively high-priced items being sold in the dormitories, residents still patronize them. Joy, a fourth year engineering student, said that mini-canteens/stores in dormitories help students especially during rainy days where flood becomes so discouraging. Other students are also forced to buy from them during emergencies and when their supplies run short. “I have nothing against our canteen because in fairness (to the servers), they render good service to the students. With them, I feel like living in our home and eating my mom’s specialties”, said Cherilou, an AB English student.
Almost all statements of the student-residents of the dormitories are in favor of the existence of this kind of business. Jhan Michael, from the Rajah Solaiman Hall (RSH), one of the boys’ dormitories, testified how their canteen helped him have a regular breakfast without getting late in his classes. RSH, which is located near the College of Engineering, seems to be quite far from the “civilization”--the Commercial Center where most of the university students prefer to buy their food stuffs.
The daily operations of these businesses inside the dormitories go on from the early dawn until late in the evening. But one day, Dr. Ricardo de Leon, the previous MSU President ordered the closure for these canteens/stores in the dormitories sometime in year 2006. According to Mr. Rey P. Panumpang, the Housing Management Division (HMD) Director, there are actually 5 stores present in the functional dormitories namely: (girls’ dorms) North and South Wing of Princess Lawanen Hall, Potre Maamor Hall, Rajah Indarapatra and Potre Linangbae Hall (girls’ dorm); Rajah Solaiman, Lakadulan Hall, and Rajad Dumduman Hall (boy’s dorms) ; owned by some of the Dormitory managers. The closure was based on one of the General Policies and Guidelines for all University dormitories’ which prohibits the establishment of mini-restaurants inside the said institutions (Student handbook, Dormitory Accommodation’s General Policies and Guidelines d.4). Furthermore, de Leon considered the fact that the ongoing businesses in the dormitories greatly affect the income of the MSU Cafeteria which is considered as one of the Income Generating Project (IGP) of the University.
The MSU Cafeteria was founded primarily with the aim to provide nutritious, well-balanced, and affordable meals to the MSU constituents. It was built beside the Center for Women Studies and is facing the MSU Administration Building.
According to Ms Annie Jane Tamano-Disomangcop, Food Service manager, the MSU Cafeteria has started its operations since the function of the University itself. It was opt to serve the first scholars of the University since student’s monthly allowance then was said to be given directly to the Cafeteria’s handling.
The regular and secured income of the Cafeteria, according to Ms Disomangcop was being deposited in the Landbank of the Philippines through their own account. But during the Umpa administration, where some monetary adjustments were made due to the lowered budget allocation given by the state to the university; some offices and departments/units of MSU were centralized as the Auxiliary division under the roof of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance (OVCAF), now manned with MSU Vice President Romeo S. Magsalos.
The Cafeteria, which provides catering services not only to its constituents but as well as to private groups or individual and guests for ordinary or special gatherings, had a daily earning of more or less P14,000 (for the main dishes), and P4-5,000 (for snacks), on regular days. “There were really lots of customers here then. But when other competitors came… (like) those eateries sprouting in the 5th street and the in demand dormitory canteens, the cafeteria started to become unpopular”, explained Ms Disomangcop. Now, she already considers a daily income of more or less P6, 000 for the main dishes and a thousand pesos for snacks sales a blessing. With 27 employees including 3 detail personnel working for the cafeteria, the monthly income of it won’t suffice for the salary of those workers. This situation may have troubled the former President prompting him to do necessary actions toward the problem.
Unfortunately, the effect of the former MSU President’s order of closure for the dormitory canteens/stores according to Ms Disomangcop has not been felt by them. In her opinion, the owners of those stores in the dormitories were still selling secretly despite the order. And her statement was somehow supported with that of Mr. Panumpang of HMD who admitted that the order was not properly implemented. It only lasted for less than a month because of the students’ requests for the reopening of the canteens/stores of their respective dormitories. Students complained about the difficulties they suffer without the canteens in the dormitories. Former President de Leon then, unforgetful of the plight of the MSU Cafeteria agreed the reopening of those canteens with a verbal agreement that managers of the businesses should only sell pater (rice with beef or chicken meal) and soft drinks during the evening when it is dangerous for the students to go out and buy foods or get their shares. On the other hand, De Leon told them to lower their pricing for their products. Through this, some of the students may have their breakfast or lunch in the Cafeteria as being suggested.
The canteens/store owned by some of the dormitory managers and that served as a kind of cooperative by the dormitory employees ranging from those positioned as the dormitory office clerks, to assistant managers and the manager. Twenty percent of the quarterly income of those stores is supposed to be donated for the development of a certain dormitory according to the HMD director. But in the PLH Dormitory for example, the students occupying the 70 rooms with 4 occupants a room were made to pay P5 for the purchase of floor wax and another P5 for a garbage can and 5 pails.
The students, excluding the scholars pay atleast P350 in the Housing Management Division aside from the P125 or so for the dormitory management they are in as a requisite for the having dormitory accommodation. They are supposed to pay those amounts as their share for the whole years’ dormitory improvements and for its development fund. Yet, they still have to contribute their last pesos for, again, the development and maintenance of the dormitories. They are prohibited by the dormitory managers to sell cheaper sandwiches, biscuits and other stuffs for their co-residents because “it is not allowed” according to the University, and that it may affect their studies and that they may compete with the “allowed” own stores. And lastly and most importantly, they have to keep their mouth shut and just patronize whatever they can buy in the canteens, of course, minus the lowered pricelist. They are there not to complain but to patronize the overpriced canteen products in exchange with the warmth of their feet away from the wild gush of flood in the streets; in exchange for the time they could save for their reviews; in exchange for the comfort of their bed during their illness.
Students are said to be the reason for a university to exist. They are here to study both the knowledge and the hardships that would equip them for the real battles in life. A dose of pressures and disappointments can be a healthy ingredient for their development. They are here to help others fulfill what they ought to fulfill in their lives—for administrators to administer; for counselors to counsel; and for teachers to teach but certainly to for crocodiles to dine.#